I heart spray paint...

One of the things I have learned with trying to keep costs down but wanting an updated look is to use spray paint.  I have painted light fixtures, house numbers, a  cheap plastic Ikea clock, and...the back of my area rug!

Back in the days of red (you know what I'm talking about, right?  Red accent walls everywhere...), I bought a square, cranberry red rug to go under my square dining table.  Once we moved to this house, it migrated to the family room, since the dining was too small.  Through the entire remodel, it was our one little source of ugliness, I mean comfort!  Even though I had lost my love for all things red, it was nice to have something soft to step on while not caring if it was covered in dust and drywall mud.  After finally getting our flooring in, we needed something to protect the wood floor from the dining room chairs.  I looked for a rug, but had two problems:  I couldn't find a square rug, and even rectangular rugs sell for no less than $200.  I joked to Caleb that I was just going to flip the rug over to save money, and then decided I actually liked the idea.  Once I did, however, I noticed how dingy the back was.  So, I brought out my favorite trick--paint!

At first I tried spray-painting the whole thing, but I soon realized that would take too long, and my fingers agreed (that little nozzle isn't exactly ergonomically designed).  So I bought a gallon of cheap gray paint at Wal-Mart and sloshed it all over.  I was just short and couldn't quite cover the edges, so rather than spend another $15 on one more gallon of paint, I modified my plan.  I taped off about 8 inches around the border and spray painted it the original, darker gray.  

   

Despite the scoffing I received from neighbors, friends, and family, I persisted in my project and am so pleased with the outcome.  It has a unique, contemporary feel.  Now I want  a new table....<sigh>

See all the red (this is from our Delta house)?

Poor, ugly, abused rug.

Ta-da!

 

remodel 4...

Once the second story was framed in, we needed two things before it rained, lathing (the step preceding stucco) and a roof.  We decided to spend the extra money and re-do the entire roof rather than match the tacky, cheap-looking white 3-tab shingles.  It looks so fantastic!

 Lathing (I bet you just learned a new word, didn't you!)

Truly, one of the uglier features of the house:

So much classier!

We also then were able to focus more on the interior:  taking down the wall between the kitchen and family room and framing in the upstairs.  We'd wanted to remove that wall ever since we first saw this house!  It was so satisfying to open it up.

Before the wall came down:

My helpers:

Finally opened up!

And the upstairs gets some bones:

deciphering the bah

A multiple-times-a-day occurence at our house:  Asher screaming, calling my name, gesturing wildly, frustrated.

Me:  "What?!?  What do you want?"

Asher:  "BAH."

Seriously.  At least 20 times each day.  It is his universal word.

remodel 3...

Once everything was destroyed, it was time to put it back together.  Start with lots of heavy floor trusses and a couple of gigantic beams-

add some walls...

then roof trusses...

and viola! A second story!

remodel 2...

Once we had the permit, we needed to do some digging and demolition.  Because we were adding a second story, we needed to make sure the house was structurally ready for all that weight.  So we dug some giant holes (about 3' x 3' x 2') in and around the house (5 of them) and several trenches to lay pipe for relocating the kitchen. 

Then it was time to destroy!  I didn't realize they would just start ripping the roof off at this point, so I was not prepared for the mess raining down on my kitchen!  I was scrambling to get stuff out of the way.  It was a losing battle, though.

It took Caleb's brothers, Anson and Jacob, his dad, and two of their employees about 3 days to get the job done.  The took out the upper kitchen cabinets, demolished the 1/2 bath, removed the ceiling, trusses, and roof, and ripped off the back patio.  At some point during all of this, they also brought in a cement truck to fill in the footings and trenches and extend the storage room so we could hide where we were closing in a door.

I wasn't really prepared for what the "after" situation would be:  blue skies and wires galore!

blue eggs and green tomatoes...

I fought Caleb over having chickens. And I wasn't too excited about a garden, either.  But I  now feel so pleased when he brings home  the goods. I'm especially proud of the blue eggs,  for some reason.   Maybe because you don't see them in the store.

We keep our chickens and garden at Caleb's parents' house, which is only a few blocks away.  The other day, their neighbor gave Caleb an antique egg scale he'd found somewhere.  Again, the amount of pride I feel in relation to the scale is silly, but I love it!  It goes perfectly with the old, wire egg basket Caleb's mom found for us.

With the unusually cold weather, we had to pull out produce early.  We were left with several pounds of green tomatoes. A little internet searching told us our options were chutney or fried green tomatoes.  We went for the latter.  And it was delicious!  I'd never tried fried green tomatoes before, but they exceeded my expectations!  If you haven't tried them, they really are fantastic.